About Rob

Hello and welcome!

My name is Rob and I am a keen amatuer astronomer based in the UK on the Suffolk/Essex border.

My passion for Astronomy began in 1979 when I was in my early teens, although I have very early memories of being shown the night sky by my parents in deepest rural France, which may have planted the seed.

My first scope was a Charles Frank 6" F8 Reflector which was equatorially mounted on a pedestal stand (see the Equipment album). I loved this scope and would often stay out until the early hours in sub zero conditions trying to track down faint fuzzies. I don't think it was a very good scope to be honest and was probably way out of collimation but I didn't care, the thrill of tracking down and observing that elusive galaxy or globular cluster was enough for me.

During my teens I was a member Clacton and District Astronomy Association (CDAA). Formed in 1969 they were, and still are, an incredibly active group who organised numerous astronomy events including regular excursions to the BAA's Winchester weekend. Patrick Moore came to visit the club at one point and I was lucky enough to spend an evening with him at the club and at the pub afterwards! The club had a superb custom made brick built observatory in the grounds of the local school (which my parents house backed onto) containing an 8.5" reflector - quite a setup in the seventies.

I was lucky enough to go on to study the subject I loved and in 1988 I obtained a BSc. in Physics with Astrophysics from Kings College, London. Sadly I let my interest wane during my 20's but in 1999 I fulfilled a dream and purchased a Celestron C8 which I have been using ever since for casual visual astronomy and outreach with friends and family.

Until recently I lived in the centre of a small town which is light polluted and I had to travel to a dark site to do any visual observing or long exposure imaging, which was pretty inconvenient. However I discovered EAA (Electronically Assisted Astronomy) which allowed me see more through my camera in a few seconds at my light polluted location than I could ever see with an eyepiece from the darkest spot! I have been an avid EAA astronomer ever since, and although my new home allows me to do eyepiece observing in relative darkness, I still regularly do EAA and share my 'captures' on this website.

I hope you find my website of interest and please feel free to comment.

Clear skies!

Rob

Place of residence: Manningtree, United Kingdom